Dead Dressed: Melvins Collaborate With Supreme For New Collection

It looks like sludge metal pioneers, Melvins have teamed up with New York clothing, and “lifestyle” brand, Supreme for a new collection dropping this Thursday, May 9th. This partnership follows previous collaborations with the likes of Daniel Johnston, Gummo/Harmony Korine, and MF DOOM as the latest in a line of source material that I love being printed onto the company’s high-priced cool kid streetwear. Surprisingly, I genuinely like and would wear just about everything in this collection. Unfortunately, nobody is sending this stuff to me for free and both the pricepoint and demand are known for being fairly high for some of these collaborations.

I generally haven’t cared too much about the previous drops, which mostly slipped past me anyway. I would love to own a Gummo coaches jacket, but the MF DOOM collection felt somewhat underwhelming at best. Of course, my critiques are based on a mix of my affinity for the subject matter and how well it’s interpreted in the products. While that might seem like obvious criteria, it doesn’t seem to have as much bearing for the stereotypical Supreme collector these days. The first indicator is that a thriving collectors and resale market for these clothes exists at all. Since that world consistently prioritizes fashion over style by focusing on brand name and rarity, there are always plenty of hype beasts on deck ready to scoop these releases regardless of what they include. Often, a large percentage of collectors won’t have any real frame of reference or reverence for anything in these collabs beyond the name Supreme, or something as minimal as seeing a pic of Kurt Cobain wearing a Jeremiah The Innocent t-shirt. That said, Cobain intentionally used clothing to spread awareness about Daniel Johnston and his work, so if Supreme can accomplish something similar with this new Melvins line, I’m all for it.

Whether you can name 3 songs or not, the designs in this collection speak for themselves. Melvins have always had amazing art connected to their work and consistently make it a priority. Not only is frontman, Buzz Osborne an avid collector of art and designer toys, but he released a limited edition book of his photography last year with select pieces currently featured in an art exhibition at the Everybody Gallery in Tucson, Arizona. His wife Mackie Osborne is a highly accomplished artist who designed the classic Social Distortion smoking skeleton with the martini logo and has worked with such musical acts as Circle Jerks, Rancid, The Vandals, TOOL, Mr Bungle, Oingo Boingo, Bad Religion, and Tricky. Her professional relationship providing art direction for Melvins began 30 years ago with the release of their 1994 albums, Prick [Amphetamine Reptile] and Stoner Witch [Atlantic Records], both represented on garments in this new Supreme collection. Also featured is the work of the late Frank Kozik, a pioneer of poster art and designer toys who frequently created art for the group. I appreciate that this Supreme line puts the visual elements front and center, highlighting and showcasing them in a way they deserve.

I’ve always loved Victor Hayden‘s old-timey Dick and Jane-style cover art from the band’s 1987 studio debut, Gluey Porch Treatments. Also known as “the Mascara Snake,” Hayden ( 1948–2018) was the cousin of Don Van Vliet aka Captain Beefheart, and appeared on the album Trout Mask Replica, during his stint as a bass clarinet player in the Magic Band. He executive produced Gluey Porch Treatments, which was released on Alchemy Records, a label he co-founded with Mark Deutrom. Deutrom would later join Melvins as their bassist between 1993 and 1998, appearing on Prick and Stoner Witch among other releases.

The new Supreme Gluey Porch Treatments hoodies keep the design basic with the Hayden cover art on the front. The back contains the same photo of the band members with their names under it that appears on the back of the album. Below the photo is the phrase “The Melvins use guitar and drums cus they want the best” — also taken from the back of the original album — and a Supreme logo. I like how simple and bold the single-color graphic is, along with the fact that the photo includes Matt Lukin. This was the sole full-length that the bassist appeared on, before Buzzo and drummer, Dale Crover, relocated to San Francisco so that Osborne could be closer to his then-girlfriend, Lori Black aka Lorax. Lori, who is the daughter of Shirley Temple-Black, took over bass duties and Lukin went on to help form Mudhoney.

Out of the 3 colorways offered, I like the construction worker orange with the black print. That said, if the projected price of $168 is accurate, I can’t see myself buying it. Although I appreciate the straightforwardness of the print and that it isn’t overdesigned, there’s nothing selling me on why something this basic should cost that much.

If you like the Victor Hayden art and want it on a t-shirt, instead, there’s a slightly different design available in the band’s merch shop for $30. They have mens and ladies shirts, but with limited sizes remaining.

I’m not well versed in fashion terminology, but I know how to Google. My 3 seconds of “research” tells me that BDU stands for “battle dress uniform,” so it makes sense that there’s a camo colorway for this jacket. I’m assuming there’s no obligation to style this like a troubled, misunderstood adolescent if you purchase it, but the model demonstrates what that looks like, in case you have a big day of ditching class to smoke cigs in the parking lot and want to go that route. The front has 4 cargo-style pockets, one of which has a “Supreme” stitched into it. There also appears to be a Melvins button where they borrow the Flipper fish logo and a pin that reads “Stoner Witch.” The back of the jacket features the Stoner Witch album art that Mackie created by redesigning imagery found on some 1950s-era vintage wallpaper from a “Sears or Montgomery Ward catalog.”

The BDU jacket is the big item in the drop with a projected cost of $228. As an average consumer and Melvins fan, it’s easy to feel priced out just based on these first 2 items. What the typical Supreme and/or streetwear collector may not know is that Melvins have a pretty rabid collector base in their own right. Just how much of an overlap there will be between the two worlds remains to be seen.

The fruit cornucopia design on the cover of the 1991 album Bullhead was swiped from a colorful tablecloth they found at a store in San Francisco. As Crover put it, they “always had album covers that weren’t very ‘heavy metal.’” These Supreme shirts are printed with a large graphic of the cover art with the band name and title on the front. The back of the tee replicates the back cover of the LP featuring the tracklist while adding a small Supreme logo. I don’t really follow their drops, but I’ve seen the company release multiple t-shirt designs with front graphics that are much smaller, letterbox-style horizontal rectangle images. It’s an approach that I remember being on skate shirt designs back in the 90s and not one that I care much for these days. The big bold recognizable Melvins imagery is what I like most about this collab and Bullhead is a monster. The Japanese band, Boris, famously took their name from its opening track.

I’m very aware that this shirt looks like a pretty basic band tee and that’s because it is. Unfortunately, a lot of bands don’t seem to have much sense when it comes to their merch, so they either over or under-design them rather than printing up shit a lot of us would prefer to wear. Melvins knows what they’re doing, but with as productive as they continue to be, it might not make as much sense to focus on resurrecting every design from 33 years ago. This Supreme collab is an opportunity to reach back and pull out some of the iconic imagery from their history. This isn’t even a new design, Melvins released a shirt with the same front graphic on it back in the day, minus the variety of colorways. I’ve seen vintage white copies for sale, but the prices are insane. I’d rather the band rerelease the design directly, but the $48 price tag that Supreme put on these is more affordable than I was expecting and a hell of a lot cheaper than buying an original.

Just like the Bullhead tee, these Prick shirts will cost $48 and be available in 5 different colorways. Unlike with Bullhead, the photograph from the back cover of the album is used for the front graphic. The print on the back is the same text and font that appear overlaid on an image of a masked cowboy on the original cover art. The front of the shirt mirrors the record with the word “Snivlem” printed across the top. It’s often been suggested that, when the band released Prick through Amphetamine Reptile, they spelled their name in reverse to avoid potential conflict involving their contract with Atlantic Records , but Deutrom, more or less, negates that.

Perhaps, the reason they chose not to use the standard artwork relates to AmRep founder, Tom Hazelmeyer releasing his own variation of it on a shirt. Hazelmeyer has honed an identifiable style using linocut block printing, regularly releasing Melvins projects in limited edition runs with his hand-printed art on the jackets. Along with wholly unique designs, he often reimagines the OG art for reissues. Some of this art has also been printed onto clothing in small numbers and sells out quickly. His version of Prick is pretty amazing and, somehow, still available as either a t-shirt (limited to 300) for $30 or a hoodie (limited to 100) for only $55. I can’t comment on the quality of these or the Supreme tees, but it might be worth looking into.

Prick is among the most controversial and inaccessible releases that Melvins ever put out with many even viewing it as an elaborate troll, so I love the idea of them selecting it for part of this collab and the possibility of it getting scooped up by people who know absolutely nothing about it. The album was recorded on the fly to take advantage of some extra studio days they had remaining after tracking the demos for Stoner Witch. Differing from other releases in their catalog, the recordings involve musique concrète techniques, random field recordings, a clip from an Elvis documentary, the band members randomly swapping instruments, extended solos, song lengths ranging from around 1 minute to over 14 minutes, all-around experimentation, chaos, church bells, and “pure digital silence.” Melvins was opening for Nirvana on their final tour when it was cut short, so they hit the studio in England. They originally intended to name the album after Kurt Cobain, but once he died, they didn’t feel comfortable doing that. The new title was selected as a tongue-in-cheek joke referring to their deceased friend as a “prick” for disrupting their plan.

This is a pretty simple, yet solid, striped polo with an image recycled from an old 90s tee-shirt design on the back and “Supreme” on the left chest. I’d wear either one, but I’m not buying it for $98.

I’m a big fan of Frank Kozik and I love the collaborations that he did with the band from his poster work to the controversial Electroretard album art. Easily the most iconic Melvins imagery that he ever created was the cover art for their 1993 major label debut, Houdini. The young mid-century boy and girl playing with a two-headed puppy perfectly exemplified Kozik‘s style juxtaposing the sweet with the sinister and operated like a mutated throwback to the cover of Gluey Portrait Treatments. For their collab, Supreme is offering the dog on a 6-panel cap, as well as in the form of a pillow. The hat will come in 3 different colors, each priced at $58. I’ve always loved that image and I’m not too mad at the price. The pillow, on the other hand, is reportedly a whopping $148, so I’m more than happy to leave that for the high rollers out there. The classic 2-headed puppy tees with a feline counterpart on the back are still listed in the band’s merch shop, but are completely out of stock.

From the beginning, one of the main principles of this website has been to share information about things that interest us while avoiding the pretentious gatekeeping that some outlets base their entire foundation on. Ideally, collaborations like these will help introduce people to art and music they’ve never had much experience with. It feels a little shitty and elitist to even suggest that modern day Supreme collectors won’t have any familiarity with Melvins, but the small number of videos that I’ve already seen covering the drop have been made by people openly admitting that they have absolutely zero knowledge of the group. In one particularly egregious video, a YouTuber by the name of SupThomas, who admits that he doesn’t “know anything about them” and “thought the Melvins were a British rock band” promises to deliver “everything you need to know about the drop” and his “predictions on resale.” His money is on the camo BDU jacket (“Stoner Witch, that’s funny“) and, possibly, the Prick shirt, because “it’s actually hilarious. Not ‘brick,’ it’s prick.” He also states that Kozik‘s dog illustration reminds him of Fallout. – he’s been “watching the new Fallout show.” I’m not trying to hate, but when the primary coverage I’m seeing is from people focusing on the potential for flipping without the willingness to do even minimal research before dropping an 8-minute video, it doesn’t represent that community in the greatest light.

In an effort to capture a wider sample, I checked out the Supreme subreddit and discovered seasoned fans of the band among the wildly confused. It’s definitely a mixed bag. Melvins collectors are pretty hardcore in their own right, but it’s difficult to speculate exactly how much that will translate. My guess is that select pieces will move quickly, but, with so many colorways and options, it shouldn’t be too difficult to grab something. Of course, if there’s anything specific that you have an eye on, it’s best to be ready when the drop goes live.

Linking up with a popular fashion brand like Supreme might seem like an odd pairing for a band that has epitomized an independent ethos, eschewed corporate influence at every step, and displayed unwavering integrity since its inception, but it’s honestly not much of a stretch if you know your history. Supreme NYC opened as a skate shop in Lower Manhattan in 1994 with employees and skate team members that were partially comprised of individuals that appear in the Larry Clark film, KIDS. Not unlike KAWS, who began his career in graffiti and hijacking advertisements — and whose art Buzz collects — Supreme was born from a raw street culture that gained them increasing mainstream popularity once the industry they helped pioneer became more widely appropriated as symbols of social status. In other words, they were cool, before it was cool to be cool. For those interested, HULU is currently streaming Jeremy Elkin‘s 2021 documentary, All the Streets Are Silent: The Convergence of Hip Hop and Skateboarding (1987-1997) which helps chronicle that intersection of subcultures in NYC, including the birth of Supreme. I respect their roots just like I do the Melvins, so it’s cool to see them coming together on something.

The collection goes live on Supreme.com on Thursday, May 9th at 8am PST / 11am EST.